NOVID app helps track coronavirus without getting personal

PITTSBURGH — As you start to go back to work or head out to do some shopping, you might be wondering if the people you're coming in contact with are sick.

Channel 11 told you about an app that a Carnegie Mellon University professor developed to track people you come into contact with, and it doesn't involve giving up personal information.

Creator and CMU professor Po-Shen Loh showed us how the NOVID app works like a Fitbit for social distancing.

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It shows you how many people you’ve met without telling you who they are.

Because NOVID doesn’t collect any personal data like email, phone number or name. Instead of GPS, it uses Bluetooth and ultrasound to detect others who have the app downloaded nearby.

You would get an alert if you someone self-reported a positive test and you spend 15 minutes near that person while they were contagious.

“The point here is that every single person has more information, so as they move around in the world, we can all collectively adjust our distance or our behavior so that we don't transmit the virus,” Loh said.

Loh said it will be even more helpful as people head back to work and out in public.

“Then people will be able to make a better decision on whether they want to telecommute or whether they want to maintain more distance while they’re in the workplace,” Loh said.

CMU develops COVID-19 contact tracing app CMU develops COVID-19 contact tracing app

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